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Article: AMA fights `Debbie' writ // Vows to shield author's name
- Article from:
- Chicago Sun-Times
- Article date:
- February 17, 1988
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright (null) Chicago Sun-Times. (Hide copyright information)
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The American Medical Association said Tuesday it will protect
the identity of the author of a controversial first-person account of
a "mercy killing" by invoking the Illinois reporters' shield law and
the First Amendment.
The Journal of the AMA will fight the subpoena it received
Tuesday from the Cook County state's attorney's office asking for
original documents from the essay, "It's Over, Debbie," which ran in
its Jan. 8 edition, said AMA general counsel Kirk Johnson.
However, the Journal will turn over the author's name to
authorities if it loses a court battle, an AMA spokesman said.
Although the AMA condemns the killing described in the essay,
Johnson said, the subpoena "raises ...